COLLEGES: Massasoit's Ashley Andrade stays busy with three sports

The 2010 Randolph High graduate is a standout basketball player, earned All-New England honors as an outfielder in softball and was a defender on the soccer team last fall. Andrade and the Warriors play in the women's basketball team's first national tourney this week in Minnesota.

Ashley Andrade has made a habit out of staying busy by playing as many sports as possible.

At Randolph High School, she was on the soccer, basketball, softball and track & field teams before graduating in 2010.

Now, a sophomore at Massasoit Community College, Andrade is a member of the basketball, soccer and softball teams in addition to taking a full course load and working part-time as a dental assistant.

“No time to rest,’’ joked Andrade. “It’s tough. It’s real tough. It’s hard. You just have to make sacrifices.

“You just have to keep telling yourself, ‘Hey, this could be potentially the last time. Do it now, because you can’t do it later.’ I always like being active. It’s good exercise.’’

Andrade is putting preseason softball practice on hold right now because she has helped extend the Warriors’ basketball season into new territory this winter.

Massasoit (16-6) won its first New England Regional championship on March 2 and will open the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament on Thursday afternoon. The Warriors play two-time defending national champion Rock Valley College of Rockford, Ill., in Rochester, Minn.

For Andrade, it is the second regional title she has won at Massasoit after being part of the softball team that earned its first crown since 1999 last spring.

“It’s really unbelievable,’’ said Andrade, a versatile guard. “It hasn’t hit me yet. I know down the line as I get older, I’ll look back and when I walk in here I’ll say, ‘That banner, you know what? I contributed to it.’

“Being part of the first basketball championship, it’s just amazing. I’m just in awe. It’s awesome. I’m in history, finally.’’

Andrade earned a diploma to become a dental assistant after graduating from Randolph High, then came to Massasoit in the fall of 2012 in order to take courses in biology before moving on to a four-year school.

She was planning to just play basketball, saying, “I just love basketball,’’ but joined the softball team last spring and played soccer to start her sophomore year last fall.

Andrade, an outfielder, made the All-New England team as a freshman, hitting .421 with 32 hits as Massasoit advanced to the district tournament and went 19-12.

In soccer, she was a defender who started 10 of 12 games and had an assist.

Basketball is the sport Andrade is most effective. She was one of five players Massasoit at on its roster at the end of the 2012-13 season and is averaging 14.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.4 steals and two assists in 20 games this season.

Page 2 of 2 - “Ashley is like the heart and the soul of the team right now,’’ said coach Mark Brathwaite. “She gets everybody else going. I would call her an energy person.

“She’s a very good athlete. Ashley, every drill we do, she is always first. She goes hard all the time. She doesn’t slack off on anything.’’

Andrade was one of the main reasons why Massasoit, playing with only four players for more than 11 minutes, survived the regional final against Roxbury Community College.

Her aggressive defense enabled the Warriors to pull out an amazing triple overtime victory.

“I just got an award at my office and my nickname is ‘jack-of-all-trades.’ When I’m here, I try to do as much as I can. I feel my position isn’t really set in stone. You know you’ve got to do this and just do it.’’

Jim Fenton may be reached at jfenton@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFenton_ent.